The latest fad diet sweeping the internet is the carnivore diet (also known as the zero carb diet). The idea is that by cutting out all plants and only eating meat you’ll quickly lose fat, control your appetite, improve strength and vitality, and actually cure many chronic illnesses. I call it a fad because it has all the classic signs of a fad diet:

Promises fast fat loss,

Promises to control appetite so it feels easier,

Promises to improve health so you’ll feel better,

Has no or limited scientific evidence to back claims,

Yet has many anecdotal stories of success,

But ultimately even the biggest proponents have no idea what the long-term health consequences are.

That last point is my biggest problem with the carnivore diet. There are all kinds of unhealthy ways to burn off body fat. Some cause short-term damage, while others inflict lasting harm. Other diets (like low-carb diets), which were once thought of as fads, eventually proved their safety and effectiveness and became legitimate dietary practices. The question is which is the carnivore diet, a dangerous fad or a pioneering breakthrough?

I’ll go over why the carnivore diet works, my concerns about it’s long-term safety, and what you can do to minimize those potential unknown harms.

Training for an endurance race is stressful to more than just your legs and your lungs. It’s hard on your gut, your immune system, your mood, your sleep, and your overall sense of well-being. Race training can be grueling, and the wrong diet amplifies the damage you take during your run and reduces your recovery afterwards. I’ve previously gone over how to fuel your workouts, so this week I’m going to go over how to fortify your body against the stress of intensive training. With the right nutrition, you can drastically enhance your natural protective systems and prevent common ailments associated with endurance training such as:

A simple mix of the right foods will help minimize stress, prevent the side effects listed above, maximize fitness improvements, and just make the entire experience feel better. For this particular article I’m going to refer to running, but the same advice works for any endurance training regiment.

New research this week shows how your microbiome can take a simple and abundant nutrient and refine it into an important metabolite that helps control inflammation in the brain and central nervous system to prevent diseases like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and even brain cancer.

We evolved to thrive in an environment where food is scarce. One essential survival tool your body used then and continues to use today is the microbiome. Aside from all the other health benefits provided by the trillions of microorganisms living in your digestive system, they also work as a customizable digestive organ that aids in squeezing as many calories and nutrients as possible from the foods available in your environment. Learn which foods train your microbiome to increase fat absorption and storage and how to stop it.